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Divine Chocolate brings together a host of exciting London Social Enterprises to celebrate Social Saturday

Award winning social enterprise Divine Chocolate, the farmer-owned chocolate company, has gathered together some of London's exciting social businesses for a fair to celebrate Social Saturday on Saturday 10th October 2015.

Hosted by the popular indie venue the Lexi Cinema, the Fair, featuring a variety of independent food, drink and fashion companies, will run from 1.00pm-6.00pm. There will be an opportunity to meet a cocoa farmer from the co-op in Ghana that owns Divine, and the afternoon will also feature a short film about the social enterprises taking part and a clip from the new digital project by Chocolate Films, “1000 Londoners”, a unique insight into how people identify with the London they call home.

Divine's Marketing Director Charlotte Green says: “Social Saturday is a great opportunity to highlight and celebrate all the great companies around the UK who are proving it doesn't have to be 'business as usual'. Social enterprise is booming in London and this Social Saturday Fair is the chance to come and meet and sample some of the exciting social businesses in the capital today.”

Green adds: “Consumers and local governments are responding positively to buying from companies that put more back into society – and the desire to create new social business models is driving some of the more innovative and creative ideas in business today.”

Divine Chocolate was named Social Enterprise of the Year 2014 and is a leading example of social enterprise succeeding in a mainstream market, with products in supermarkets and independent stores here in UK and around the world. The company recently merged its UK and USA businesses and is 44% owned by the farmers who supply its cocoa, giving them status and a share of the profits, as well as additional Fairtrade premium for their crop.

Social enterprises are business that trade to meet a social or environmental mission. They make a profit like any other business but they reinvest or donate their profits to create a positive social impact. This could be creating opportunities for people marginalised from the job market, supporting development projects around the globe or strengthening local economies at home. There are around 70,000 social enterprises in the UK which employ two million people and contribute £20 billion to the UK economy.

Social Saturday is part of Social Enterprise UK's Buy Social Campaign which urges consumers, the public and private sectors to use their purchasing power to create positive social and environmental impact. It raises awareness about the options for everyday consumers who can utilise social savings and social investment opportunities which allow money to be invested into businesses whose social mission they support.

Peter Holbrook CBE, CEO of Social Enterprise UK, said: “Social enterprises are redefining how business gets done. When you buy from them, society profits. What's more they are outperforming regular businesses on growth and impact. Social Saturday is all about celebrating and raising awareness about our growing movement. This year we want to really put social enterprise on the map through a range of events across the country. When you buy from social enterprises your money goes so much further, I encourage you to go out there and buy social today.”

Minster for Civil Society, Rob Wilson, said: “Social Saturday is a great opportunity for people across the country to buy social and explore the breadth of this vibrant and growing sector. We want to help social enterprises thrive, which is why we are making it easier for people to invest in the social enterprises they support the most, helping us to build a truly compassionate society.”

A production company who produce creative video content for charities, education and arts and culture organisations. They run an extensive outreach programme engaging with over 2500 disadvantaged young people each year offering accredited media courses, filmmaking and animation workshops and masterclasses.

They are hosting a special one off screening at 3pm called 'NW Londoners' at the Lexi Cinema, part of their 1000 Londoners short documentaries project. The screening will be a 60 minute programme with a Q&A with filmmakers and contributors

Owned by Cocoa Farmers, Made for Chocolate Lovers- The only Fairtrade chocolate company that is 44% owned by the cocoa farmers is Ghana.

As Social Enterprise of the Year Divine Chocolate is proud to bring together some amazing social Enterprises all under one roof for Social Saturday 2015. On the day you can sample and buy from the whole Divine Chocolate range.

Goodbeans is committed to supporting the communities growing and thriving around them, using sales of cold brew coffee and the goodbeans brand to promote and engage customers with the work of partners. Focused on giving young people hands-on experience in starting and running their own business, supporting them to ensure they reach meaningful employment.

Come and try goodbeans cold brew yourself at the fair where they will selling their cold brew coffee bottles.

A London coffee roastery with a mission to help the homeless by providing training, employment jobs and housing, whilst placing an equal importance on sourcing and roasting some of the best speciality beans from around the world.

Pick up bags of freshly roasted Guatemalan & Tanzanian coffee beans from the team on Social Saturday.

Grow Up Farms build and operate commercial farms that take unused urban space and produce local and fresh fish, salads and herbs for people in cities, creating employment and lowering the environmental impact of agriculture.

On social Saturday the team will have punnets of freshly harvested produce such as basil, rocket and pea shoots will be available to buy.

A hand up, not a handout- The Big Issue's online social trading shop is the latest addition to the Big Issue network. Every product for sale has a “social echo” to it that could range from what the product is made from, who it is made by or where the profits end up.

Join their socially aware and active community at the fair and pick up your copy of the magazine, buy products from the new Big Issue Shop find out about the brand new digital mini-mag GoDoSeeBuy!